Highlanders Super Rugby Stadium

Highlanders Super Rugby Stadium

Forsyth Barr Stadium

The Forsyth Barr Stadium (officially Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza) is a multi-purpose stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand. At various stages of development it was also known as Dunedin Stadium, Awatea Street Stadium, New Carisbrook, or its non-commercial official name during the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Otago Stadium.

The stadium was opened by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on 5 August 2011, replacing Carisbrook as the home stadium of the Highlanders team in Super Rugby and the Otago Rugby Football Union in the domestic ITM Cup. The stadium is scheduled to host four matches of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

The stadium is located in Dunedin North, close to the outflow of the Water of Leith into Otago Harbour (and directly over the outflow of Opoho Stream). Its site is close to several other major sports venues. Logan Park lies immediately to the north, and the University Oval and the Caledonian Ground are also nearby to the north of the stadium. Also to the north of the stadium is Logan Point quarry, at the foot of Signal Hill.

To the west, the stadium’s near neighbours include Otago Polytechnic and the University of Otago College of Education. The main campus of the University of Otago lies one kilometre to the west.

Carisbrook

– Capacity 35 000

Carisbrook is the home sporting venue in Dunedin, New Zealand. The city’s main sporting venue, it is an international venue for both rugby union and cricket, it has also been used for other sports such as soccer. Floodlit since the 1990s, it can cater for both day and night fixtures. Known locally simply as “The Brook”, it is also often known by the name “The House of Pain”, due to its solid reputation as a difficult venue for visiting teams.

Located at the foot of The Glen, a steep valley, the ground is flanked by the South Island Main Trunk Railway and the Hillside Railway Workshops, two miles southwest of Dunedin city centre in the suburb of Caversham. State Highway 1 also runs close to the northern perimeter of the ground.

Carisbrook was named after the estate of early colonial settler James Macandrew (itself named after a castle in the Isle of Wight). Developed during the 1870s, it was first used for international cricket in 1883, when Otago hosted a team from Tasmania. It has been hosting rugby union internationals since 1908 and full cricket internationals since 1955.

The stadium is home to the Otago rugby team in the Air New Zealand Cup and to the Highlanders Super 14 rugby team. It is also the home of Otago cricket, although the redevelopment of the University Oval at Logan Park in the north of the city could see this sport’s association with the stadium diminish.
The ground’s capacity is around 35,000. Until recent years, the sides of a major road overlooking the ground were known as the “Scotsman’s Grandstand”, from which a free view of the action could be easily obtained. The development of a new stand and corporate boxes on that side of the ground during the 1990s have rendered this tradition a thing of the past.

Due, at least in part, to Dunedin’s sizable number of tertiary students (20,000 of the city’s 120,000 population), Carisbrook has a unique atmosphere, particularly for major games. This is also partly due to the terraces, an uncovered concrete embankment at the eastern end of the ground—reputedly the last open terracing at any major sports venue in New Zealand.

The combination of students and terraces can occasionally be responsible for as much excitement and activity in the crowd as on the ground itself—on one infamous occasion which has now passed into Dunedin folklore, one group on the terraces set fire to a sofa they had carried to the ground as their own comfortable terrace seating.
The future of Carisbrook
By the beginning of the 21st century, the ground in general and the terraces in particular were under threat. The demands of modern international sport led to calls for the ground to be significantly upgraded or replaced, with most proposals calling for the Carisbrook terraces to be replaced with seats.

On the August 9, 2006, it was announced that the current incarnation of Carisbrook would be retired and that a new covered stadium, like the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff would be built in North Dunedin within the University of Otago vicinity, between Logan Park and the edge of the Otago Harbour, close to the mouth of the Water of Leith. This is also likely to be called Carisbrook.

The stadium – which it is hoped will seat 32,000 – would be ready for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Construction of the stadium would be overseen by the Carisbrook Stadium Trust, led by a former local Dunedin city counsellor (and dentist), Malcolm Farry. The stadium would be built in collaboration with the University of Otago and could include sports research facilities and perhaps a new university gymnasium.

As yet, none of these future plans for Carisbrook have been finalised, and the future of the existing ground has not been decided.